Oh no, not another silly third party!
Not so fast…
Third parties have had a major influence on U.S. political debate and policy. Third parties often organize around a single issue or series of issues that no one wants to raise. In the process they change the American political debate or policy forever. A classic example was slavery. These are often issues that are PURPOSELY excluded from the national debate.
We believe in addressing the deepening economic depression, which is the result of globalization and deregulated financial speculation. Tax Wall Street not Main Street. Current policy bails out bankers and does absolutely nothing to help working people, industrial producers, farmers and small businesses.
“What happens is third parties act as a gadfly,” says Sean Wilentz, director of the American Studies program at Princeton University.
- Do we believe we can win an election? No.
- Do we believe we will ever win an election? No.
- Do we believe that we can influence an election? Yes.
Tax Wall Street Party is located in Washington D.C. and lobbies congress. A third party, with a good mission, the right leadership, at the right time, can change the world. How can they? Our members of Congress are not all as corrupt and immovable as some would portray them. They lack the resources and advisors to champion economic populist positions.
Elections, especially in Congressional districts, are won by slim margins or even a handful of votes. A third party candidacy or the possibility of a third party entering the race can have a decisive impact on the elections. This can influence the major party candidate’s policies.
If you represent a nonprofit advocacy group a congressional staffer will most likely say, “Thanks but no thanks.” If you say, “Hi we are here from a third party that may run a candidate against you ...” The door opens quickly. Tax Wall Street Party will run candidates against anybody who will not advocate and vote for the following:
Tax and Regulate Wall Street.
A Wall Street Sales Tax (securities transfer tax or trading tax) on all financial transactions including derivatives (futures, options, indices, and over the counter derivatives), stocks, bonds, foreign exchange, and commodities, especially program trading, high-frequency trading, and flash trading. (This is a targeted tax on the banks and NOT for the retail investor. Individuals doing less than 1 million dollars in transitions per year are not subject to this tax. For a married couple this is 2 million per year. We have researched that almost no individuals will be impacted.)
Re-institute the Glass-Steagall firewall to separate banks, brokerages, and insurance.
Ban the riskiest categories of financial instruments (e.g. mortgage-backed securities) and establish strong reserve requirements, margin requirements, position limits, and anti-speculation protections.
As a result of a Wall Street Sales Tax we raise the revenue which in turn allows for immediate tax relief to individuals, families, and small business. Remove the estate tax. Take the burden of taxation away from working American families and shift it to financial speculators, banks and corporate behemoths.
Nationalize the Federal Reserve.
The First Bank of the United States, constituted in 1791, was described by Alexander Hamilton as “a political machine, of the greatest importance to the state.” By extending credit at low interest rates to projects of economic development – chiefly public infrastructure and domestic manufacturing – a National Bank undercuts the ability of financial speculators and foreign nations to inflate the cost of a nation’s infrastructure and influence its political decisions.
This can be accomplished formally, as with the first and second Banks of the United States, or informally, as with Lincoln’s “Greenback Dollar” or Franklin Roosevelt’s command of the Federal Reserve System. Bring the functions of a National Bank under the control of Congress and the Executive branch, no longer the sole preserve of unelected, predatory bankers.
The capacity for the Nation’s economy to utilize “free money” is not, as modern monetary theorists would have it, unlimited. It is bounded by the capacity of our labor force, technological capabilities and infrastructure needs to put it to use. Inflation is not a mere increase in the supply of money, but an increase relative to the increase in use-value enabled by that money.
Cut federal BORROWING, and initiate federal LENDING, at 0% or low rates of interest for:
- Federal and state infrastructure projects such as road, rail, air, water, and energy projects.
- Development and construction of modern nuclear power infrastructure.
- 0% student loans.
- Low-interest loans for industrial plant and equipment, with Made in America safeguards.
These demands are not currently in the public conversation, and will never rise to the attention of our Members of Congress without lobbying and advocacy from the Tax Wall Street Party.
This is the program of the American System of Political Economy. Are these traditional demands likely to be met by a bought and paid for Congress? Probably not. They can happen when listeners share information or go as far as to strategically run as candidates to put these issues before voters.
